Ammonium‐ and Fe(II)‐rich fluid flows, known from deep‐sea hydrothermal systems, have been extensively studied in the last decades and are considered as sites with high microbial diversity and activity. Their shallow‐submarine counterparts, despite their easier accessibility, have so far been under‐investigated, and as a consequence, much less is known about microbial communities inhabiting these ecosystems. A field of shallow expulsion of hydrothermal fluids has been discovered at depths of 170–400 meters off the base of the Basiluzzo Islet (Aeolian Volcanic Archipelago, Southern Tyrrhenian Sea). This area consists predominantly of both actively diffusing and inactive 1–3 meters‐high structures in the form of vertical pinnacles, steeples and mounds covered by a thick orange to brown crust deposits hosting rich benthic fauna. Integrated morphological, mineralogical, and geochemical analyses revealed that, above all, these crusts are formed by ferrihydrite‐type Fe³⁺ oxyhydroxides. Two cruises in 2013 allowed us to monitor and sampled this novel ecosystem, certainly interesting in terms of shallow‐water iron‐rich site. The main objective of this work was to characterize the composition of extant communities of iron microbial mats in relation to the environmental setting and the observed patterns of macrofaunal colonization. We demonstrated that iron‐rich deposits contain complex and stratified microbial communities with a high proportion of prokaryotes akin to ammonium‐ and iron‐oxidizing chemoautotrophs, belonging to Thaumarchaeota, Nitrospira, and Zetaproteobacteria. Colonizers of iron‐rich mounds, while composed of the common macrobenthic grazers, predators, filter‐feeders, and tube‐dwellers with no representatives of vent endemic fauna, differed from the surrounding populations. Thus, it is very likely that reduced electron donors (Fe²⁺ and NH₄⁺) are important energy sources in supporting primary production in microbial mats, which form a habitat‐specific trophic base of the whole Basiluzzo hydrothermal ecosystem, including macrobenthic fauna.

中文翻译：

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富含铁和铵的亚铁扩散喷口支持Basiluzzo Islet（风成火山群岛）附近一个浅水热田中的特定栖息地社区。

深海热液系统中已知富含铵和铁（II）的流体流，在过去的几十年中已经得到了广泛的研究，被认为是微生物多样性高和活性高的场所。尽管它们的可及性较弱，但对它们的浅海潜水者迄今仍未得到充分的调查，因此，人们对居住在这些生态系统中的微生物群落的了解还很少。在距巴西卢佐岛（Basiluzzo Islet）（第勒尼安海南部的风成火山群岛）底部170-400米的深度发现了一个浅层排出热液的领域。该区域主要由活跃的和不活跃的1-3米高的结构组成，这些结构包括垂直的尖峰，尖顶和丘陵，覆盖着厚厚的橙色至棕色硬皮沉积物，拥有丰富的底栖动物。³⁺羟基氧化物。2013年的两次巡游使我们能够监测和采样这个新颖的生态系统，就浅水富铁矿场而言当然很有趣。这项工作的主要目的是表征与环境环境和所观察到的大型真菌定殖模式有关的现有铁微生物垫群落组成。我们证明了富铁矿床包含复杂且分层的微生物群落，与原丘藻，硝化螺菌和Zetaproteobacteria属于铵和铁氧化化自养生物的原核生物比例很高。。富铁丘陵的定居者由常见的大型底栖放牧者，掠食者，滤食动物和管栖动物组成，没有通风特有动物群的代表，但与周围的种群不同。因此，很有可能还原的电子给体（Fe ²⁺和NH ₄ ⁺）是支持微生物垫初级生产的重要能源，微生物垫形成了整个Basiluzzo热液生态系统（包括大型底栖动物）的特定于栖息地的营养基础。